Eleven percent said they’d be tempted to have a nap, read a paper, or watch a film while using one of the highway-assist features available today, even though every automaker peddling the tech requires drivers to pay attention to the road at all times. “It’s really worrying that consumers are believing the hype.”

Worrying, but not at all surprising, as the research is clear that people will trust automation while it's still much too unreliable for vehicle control use. Google abandoned driver-assist and instead decided to go for full autonomy after watching video of their regular employees beta-testing their driver-assist system (which was far more capable than A/P was when the latter was introduced, and probably still is). People almost immediately disengaged from driving and did all the activities noted above plus others, even though they knew the systems were immature - the most extreme case involved one employee who fell asleep and stayed that way for 27 minutes while the car cruised at 60 mph.

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

Volkswagen Group, Mobileye and Champion Motors plan to commercialize Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) with self-driving electric vehicles in Israel. Development will begin in early 2019 and roll out in phases reaching full commercialization in 2022. . . .

Operating as “New Mobility in Israel,” the group’s proposal was formally accepted by the Israeli government during a private ceremony at the Smart Mobility Summit 2018 in Tel Aviv.

“New Mobility in Israel” will roll out in phases and grow quickly from several dozen to hundreds of self-driving electric vehicles.

The Volkswagen Group will provide the electric vehicles (EVs) and bring in its in-depth knowledge and competency about design and deployment of user-centered mobility services.

The government of Israel has committed to support the project in three main areas: furnishing legal and regulatory support; sharing the required infrastructure and traffic data; and providing access to infrastructure as needed.

While “New Mobility in Israel” will be Israel’s first commercial Mobility-as-a-Service with self-driving vehicles, all facilitations and rulings will be applied to all other ventures that wish to operate a Mobility-as-a-Service in Israel.

Volkswagen, Mobileye and Champion Motors will use “New Mobility in Israel” to serve as a global beta site for testing and introducing the Mobility-as-a-Service model using autonomous electric vehicles. . . .

I'm wondering if we should start a separate topic for MaaS companies (AV or not), and use this one solely for technical issues related to AVs. Opinions?

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

. . . The Baidu-Ford L4 Autonomous Vehicle Test Project is a two-year initiative, with on-road testing slated to begin by the end of this year. The project will see Ford and Baidu cooperating to develop and test autonomous vehicles that are designed to meet the Level 4 (L4) driving automation standard as defined by SAE International. This means that upon completion of the development and testing process, the vehicles will be capable of operating autonomously within a specific geographic area and under certain weather conditions. . . .

In the lead-up to the kickoff, a team of Ford engineers at the company’s Nanjing Research and Engineering Center (REC) was set up to convert the vehicles into Autonomous Vehicle Platforms (AVPs) in order to prepare them to be fit with Baidu’s Apollo Virtual Driver System (VDS).

All vehicles have now been equipped with the Virtual Driver System (VDS) and related hardware and are ready for testing. The AV tests will be conducted on open roads in Beijing that are specially designated for AV testing, with the option of exploring further opportunities in other Chinese cities in the future in accordance with local regulations.

Ford is a founding member of the Apollo Committee, an advisory group for Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving open platform, with Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC president and CEO Sherif Marakby serving as a board member. The new project builds on the existing collaborative partnership between the two companies. . . .

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

HyperdriveWaymo to Start First Driverless Car Service Next MonthUnder a new name, the Google sibling plans to methodically build a futuristic rival to Uber and Lyft. This is how it will unfold.https://www.bloomberg.com/hyperdrive